Art makes everything better.... our pick of the best exhibitions in London, July 2016
Rain, Brexit - things are a wee bit grim at present. If you need cheering up, read our handy guide to the best London exhibitions July has to offer
Georgia O'Keeffe : Oriental 1928
In times of uncertainty, we turn to art. Museums and galleries have become secular cathedrals, quiet sanctuaries for contemplation. (That is, unless there's a group of primary school kids. Avoid the midweek)
After the results June 24, we Londoners are doing a fair bit of soul-searching. Luckily there's a fine crop of exhibitions to lose yourself in. Here's our pick of the best London exhibitions this July.
THE BIG 'UNS
Our most beloved artist?
David Hockney, Royal Academy
We all love the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition for its chaotic, non-hierarchical 'Salon Hang', glamorous visitors and flourishing emerging arts scene. It's the oldest open art competition in the world: a heady concoction of charmingly amateur and strictly professional.
This year’s co-ordinator, the sculptor Richard Wilson, goes for the power of two by focusing on artistic pairs. We’re also back to white walls, ‘fully illuminated’ by natural light.
Find out more
"Men put me down as the best woman painter... I think I’m one of the best painters."
Georgia O’Keeffe, Tate Modern
No, these aren't the products of acid-addled '60s psychedelia. They're Victorian, actually. And they're drawn by ghosts.
Georgiana Houghton was at the forefront of the Victorian Spiritualist movement, making hundreds of abstract automatic watercolours in the 1860s and 70s. They are spectacular - eerie, but rippling with strange life. They also have a good claim to being the first ever abstract works. Largely ignored and ridiculed in her lifetime, she's finally getting the attention she deserves. Weird, wonderful.
Find out more
For the Romantics among you...
Cornelia Parker, FOUND: Foundling Museum
Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker. Parker has invited over sixty of the biggest names in art, including Laure Prouvost, David Shrigley, Edmund de Waal, Mona Hatoum, Laure Prouvost, Bob and Roberta Smith, Antony Gormley, to contribute a piece of work, or an object they have found and kept.
Look above, for example. British artist John Smith walked into his father’s shed, just after his death. There he found a stick, which, for half a century, was used to by his Dad to mix household paint. He sawed it in half, and the cross section revealed every room his father had ever painted: colour upon colour, like the rings of a tree. A whole history, in less than an inch. “I can see the greyish green of our kitchen cupboards in the 1950s” says Smith, “and the bright orange of our hallway in the 60s.”
Find out more
For Kiddies
Beatrix Potter’s London, V&A
Ok,so technically it's not an exhibition. But wheeeee! We were one of the first on Carsten Höller's new slide - and we're still trembling.
Kapoor’s neglected ArecelorMittal Orbit is given a new lease of life thanks to Carsten Höller.. Kids, grownups - you'll all love it.
read our review
After the results June 24, we Londoners are doing a fair bit of soul-searching. Luckily there's a fine crop of exhibitions to lose yourself in. Here's our pick of the best London exhibitions this July.
THE BIG 'UNS
Our most beloved artist?
David Hockney, Royal Academy
We all love the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition for its chaotic, non-hierarchical 'Salon Hang', glamorous visitors and flourishing emerging arts scene. It's the oldest open art competition in the world: a heady concoction of charmingly amateur and strictly professional.
This year’s co-ordinator, the sculptor Richard Wilson, goes for the power of two by focusing on artistic pairs. We’re also back to white walls, ‘fully illuminated’ by natural light.
Find out more
"Men put me down as the best woman painter... I think I’m one of the best painters."
Georgia O’Keeffe, Tate Modern
No, these aren't the products of acid-addled '60s psychedelia. They're Victorian, actually. And they're drawn by ghosts.
Georgiana Houghton was at the forefront of the Victorian Spiritualist movement, making hundreds of abstract automatic watercolours in the 1860s and 70s. They are spectacular - eerie, but rippling with strange life. They also have a good claim to being the first ever abstract works. Largely ignored and ridiculed in her lifetime, she's finally getting the attention she deserves. Weird, wonderful.
Find out more
For the Romantics among you...
Cornelia Parker, FOUND: Foundling Museum
Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker. Parker has invited over sixty of the biggest names in art, including Laure Prouvost, David Shrigley, Edmund de Waal, Mona Hatoum, Laure Prouvost, Bob and Roberta Smith, Antony Gormley, to contribute a piece of work, or an object they have found and kept.
Look above, for example. British artist John Smith walked into his father’s shed, just after his death. There he found a stick, which, for half a century, was used to by his Dad to mix household paint. He sawed it in half, and the cross section revealed every room his father had ever painted: colour upon colour, like the rings of a tree. A whole history, in less than an inch. “I can see the greyish green of our kitchen cupboards in the 1950s” says Smith, “and the bright orange of our hallway in the 60s.”
Find out more
For Kiddies
Beatrix Potter’s London, V&A
Ok,so technically it's not an exhibition. But wheeeee! We were one of the first on Carsten Höller's new slide - and we're still trembling.
Kapoor’s neglected ArecelorMittal Orbit is given a new lease of life thanks to Carsten Höller.. Kids, grownups - you'll all love it.
read our review
TRY CULTURE WHISPER
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